Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS) Director Acquires 5,000 Shares

Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS) Director Michael R. Hayden bought 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, December 23rd. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $36.22 per share, for a total transaction of $181,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 35,219 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,275,632.18. The trade was a 16.55 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

NASDAQ IONS traded down $0.20 during trading on Thursday, reaching $36.33. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,005,815 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,352,247. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $37.21 and a 200 day moving average price of $42.16. Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a 12 month low of $33.33 and a 12 month high of $54.44. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -14.89 and a beta of 0.35. The company has a current ratio of 8.91, a quick ratio of 8.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.86.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of IONS. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC bought a new stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the second quarter valued at $202,000. Peregrine Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 11.3% in the 2nd quarter. Peregrine Capital Management LLC now owns 132,024 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,292,000 after purchasing an additional 13,426 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 27.6% in the 2nd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 9,707 shares of the company’s stock worth $463,000 after purchasing an additional 2,100 shares in the last quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC lifted its stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 3.2% during the second quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 22,669 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,080,000 after purchasing an additional 695 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nicola Wealth Management LTD. raised its stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 32.1% during the second quarter. Nicola Wealth Management LTD. now owns 74,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,527,000 after acquiring an additional 18,000 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.86% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Piper Sandler cut their price objective on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $65.00 to $62.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Guggenheim lowered their target price on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $70.00 to $65.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $82.00 to $77.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $60.65.

About Ionis Pharmaceuticals

Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc discovers and develops RNA-targeted therapeutics in the United States. The company offers SPINRAZA for spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) in pediatric and adult patients; TEGSEDI, an antisense injection for the treatment of polyneuropathy caused by hereditary transthyretin amyloidosis in adults; and WAYLIVRA, an antisense medicine for treatment for familial chylomicronemia syndrome (FCS) and familial partial lipodystrophy.